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Catching the train from London to Marseille

Did
you know it is now possible to get the train direct from London to Marseille? Marvellous
Marseille is somewhere I have been lucky enough to visit several times, and I
have always flown there. So, when Eurostar launched their direct London to
Marseille service and I was planning a trip with a girlfriend (who is afraid of
flying), it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

It’s
easy to let the UK’s island status make you automatically look for flights whenever you wish to
leave the country. Flights are generally inexpensive, making them tempting, but
there are also plenty of overseas trips by sea and rail on offer, with journeys less arduous than you might imagine; travelling to
the French Mediterranean coast is one of them.

The
experience

While our
07:19 departure was a tad on the early side, catching just one train all the way to Marseille was a super convenient direct service. Having got
onboard and stashed our luggage, we sat back and relaxed. Completing a journey
of 1,250 kilometres such as that from London to Marseille without a connection
is unusual. Since the completion of the Channel Tunnel, rail-travelling Brits
wanting to visit the French Mediterranean coast have needed to change to the
TGV line in Paris. We really appreciated not needing to get off the train, drag
luggage around a busy and unfamiliar station and board a new train. It was so
easy.

The
sights

The
first 40 minutes or so we skirted around London, passed through the Kent
countryside, then spent around 20 minutes under the Channel, and the large flat
fields of northern France welcomed us to the continent.

We
passed through the slate-roofed Calais region and headed diagonally across
France and it’s wide expanses of sloping countryside, to Lyon. From urban Lyon
we went south through fields of sunflowers and past the Rhone at Aix-en-Provence
and on to Marseille.

During
the journey passenger announcements included tourist information and we were
informed of the various industrial histories of towns we passed through and
significant landmarks were pointed out. One of the stewards even walked through
the train with an iPad sharing further information on cultural sites with those
who were interested.

As
we approached Provence the Alps rose majestically to the eastern side of the
train, transforming the landscape, which had mainly been wide, open fields
until this point. Shortly before arriving in Aix-en-Provence we were warned we
would be able to see the Palais des Papes as we crossed the river, and it
looked enormous! From Aix it was only another hour to Marseille.

View from the Eurostar to Marseille, France

The
journey

We
arrived in Marseille Gare St Charles just after 3pm local time. Our train
journey from the centre of London to the centre of Marseille took about seven
and a half hours, including check-in time at St Pancras station (six and a half
on the train). The quickest journey you could take by plane would probably take
around six hours, including transport between airports and cities, and check-in
times.

The
train can also be cheaper than flying. Return tickets from London to Marseille
are advertised for £99. If you include the cost of getting to the airport with
your flight price, it will probably cost more than going directly from one city
centre to another.

Tips

1. Expect
full luggage security scanning (the same as airports) before departure,
ensuring you can remove laptops easily before the x-ray machines.

2. Print
your boarding pass at home to save time at your departing train station, which
is important as you have to go through security, British immigration and French
immigration before departing, all during a shorter period than if you were at an airport, and there are often queues.

3. Board
your train as soon as possible once it has been called as boarding can be
denied in the last minutes before departure to ensure services run on schedule.

4. If
you want to eat on the train, buy your food as soon as possible as the onboard
shop only carries limited stock and closes about half an hour before arrival at
the final destination.

Train vs Plane

While
flying into Marseille offers travellers magnificent aerial views of the city
nestled between the Alps and the Mediterranean, travelling by train was very
easy and inexpensive. I enjoyed being able to see the country I was travelling
through which is an obvious benefit of surface travel over air travel.

Another advantage is the fact that less time is spent hanging around waiting for departures. If you want to work while travelling, or prefer to settle in and get comfy for the trip, a bit longer onboard and less time waiting in between is an advantage.

I
hope lots of travellers take advantage of the direct London to Marseille service,
as hopefully the more people use them the more these convenient services will be
provided. To my mind at least, the more methods of transport available the better!

Have
you travelled by train to the south of France? What did you think?